MSc in CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Thesis Proposal for Academic Year 2017/2018

Title of Dissertation:

A Comparison Study on Design-Build (DB) and Design-Bid-Build (DBB), and

their Impacts on the Performance of Roads Construction Projects in Oman

Keywords: Design Bid Build, Design Build, performance, Construction road projects, Oman

Name: Ahmed Khamis said Al Balushi

Student ID: GCU - 200720685

CCE - 07688

CCE Supervisor: Dr. Omar Amoudi

GCU Supervisor:
 Research Proposal

Contents

Research Background and problem definition .......................................................................................... 2

Aim and Objectives .................................................................................................................................... 2

Hypothesis ................................................................................................................................................... 5

Research Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 5

Reason For Topic Selection ...........................................................................................................................

Significance of the Research..................................................................................................................... 7

Research Scope/Limitations...................................................................................................................... 7

Risk Assessment and Ethical Issues ........................................................................................................ 8

Source of Data ............................................................................................................................................ 8

References ................................................................................................................................................. 10

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 Research Proposal

A Comparison Study on Design-Build (DB) and Design-Bid-Build (DBB), and their Impacts on

the Performance of Roads Construction Projects in Oman

Research Background and problem definition

In today's world where there is the availability of every (variety of) resource in terms of Manpower,
Material, Money (Personal or funding) in the market it has aroused the Owner/Government entity
to become more prudent in respect of Contracts Management. As projects success is solely based
on how effective the Management team. This is where different types of procurement methods are
adopted in order to run various aspects smoothly. In this research proposal, Design-Build (DB)
and Design Bid Build (DBB) will be investigated and compared to evaluate their impact on the
road construction project performance. (Fernane 2011)

The Design-Build (DB) method of procurement is the one in which the Owner hires an entity
(Architect/Civil Engineer) to produce a basic design of the project and the basic expectations are
highlighted in it. Once the Documents (Design) is finalized by the entity, the Owner advertises the
job or may deliver to the selected companies in order to begin the proposal process. In this type of
procurement method, the selected companies have the ability/freedom to make alterations to the
documents prepared earlier and to prepare the design so as to prove to be best in the interest of
Owner. These changes must definitely be approved by the Owner. (Fernane 2011)

In the Design Bid Build (DBB) method of procurement, the owner appoints a design firm to create
documents comprising of project drawings and job specifications. These drawings consist of all
the aspects of design such as Civil, Architectural, Structural, MEP, Telecommunications etc based
on the scope and project requirement. Once the design is fully completed then the Owner advertises
or delivers to selected companies to proceed with bidding. Then the bids are accepted and reviewed
by the owner and generally, the lowest bidder is offered the job. (Fernane 2011)

There are merits and demerits of each of the above methods of procurement depending upon the
type of project and the extent of its scope. As in DB, a single entity is responsible for design and
construction and hence it is easy for the construction to begin early before design completion

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 Research Proposal

leading for the project to be executed pre-schedule. As the Design entity has the responsibility for
the design and construction, the risk is transferred from the Owner to the entity. But if there are
changes in the design during the construction stage, it proves to be costly, (Fernane 2011) . In DBB
the Owner controls the design and construction. In this type, design changes are easily
accommodated and compensated as construction doesnt get started till design reached 100% in
other words the Design is complete before the construction is started. In this type of method, the
Owner is on the Risk of any design errors which may occur. It Means if there are any changes
which need to be done after work begins, it falls on the Owner's head as the design was completed
and issued by him. This gives rise to 'Change orders'.

A study conducted in the United States of America for 351 houses built in between 1990-96, the
studies showed that DB projects were superior and outperformed the DBB projects in terms of cost
and schedule. (konchar and sanvido 1998)
Both the Design-Build and Design-Bid-Build has some advantages and disadvantages concerning
the constructor and the owner the choice differs. One of the main problems faced by the owners is
that how to meet the evolving needs at their best. Also, about the frequent change in order and
extension time in the project. On talking about the mission of expansion or capacity, the needs will
be met with the new facility. One significant factor that leads to the success of the facilities is the
method of procurement that is used to deliver the owners new facility. Most prevalent methods
are Design-Bid-Build and Design-Build (Al-Ahbabi 2014).

In Oman, Ministry of Regional Municipalities & Water Resources (MRMWR) deals with internal
road projects in various regions of the Sultanate. Both the methods are in practice by the Ministry
to execute the Road projects and both were found to have advantages as well as disadvantages for
instance a road project in Musandam Governorate of Oman following the Design-Build method
had changed from single to Dual Carriageway after the contract as it included the design and
construction which led to issuance of change order as the scope of work was modified to a large
extent as land Acquisition, Expropriation and BOQ had to be amended. Design-Build is the most
common method of procurement which is used in the Ministry for delivering projects whereas
Design Bid Build has just been adopted recently for a few recent projects.

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 Research Proposal

The benefit or demerits of the procurement methods are directly or indirectly dependent on the
parties involved in the contract. As in the Design-Build if a delay occurs leading to Change order
or design changes the liability will fall on the Design entity and the Owner shall have a reduced
risk but in this method, the Owner shall remain less involved in the deliverables of the project.
Whereas in Design Bid Build it shall be a headache on the Owner if delay/changes occur but he
will be more involved in various aspects of the Design.

Aim and Objectives

This study aims to analyze and compare the impact of Design Bid Build and Design Build
performance methods on the roads construction projects.
The Objectives are to know:
To understand difference procurement methods,
To identify the indicators or criteria for the project success.
To collect data from the realistic projects and construction professionals who are involved
in these types of projects.
To analyse the collected data and to evaluate the effects of the studied procurement method
on the project success.
Finally, list of recommendations will be produced.

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 Research Proposal

Hypothesis
To test the impacts of the two project delivery method on Oman road projects, the following
hypotheses were developed:
1. Time
H0: No difference exists between design-build and design-bid-build project delivery methods
regarding contract duration.
H1: Design-build projects will have shorter contract durations than design-bid-build projects.
2. Cost
H0: No difference exists between design-build and design-bid-build project delivery methods
regarding contract cost.
H2: Design-build projects will have lower contract costs than equivalent design-bid-build
projects.
3. Quality
H0: No difference exists between design-build and design-bid-build project delivery methods
regarding project quality.
H3: Design-build projects will be of better quality than equivalent design-bid-build projects.

Research Methodology
The research will use statistical analysis to compare performance metrics for cost, schedule, and
change-order cost for DBB and DB projects at MRMWR. They are same steps that need to be
followed in order to achieve the purpose of this research:

A relevant literature review will be conducted on DB and DBB project delivery methods on
construction projects as they relate to MRMWR projects.
A Separate questionnaire will be developed to collect data information from construction
professional who is involved in DB and DBB projects when they are used in construction roads
projects.
A case study will be used to discuss the results.
To analyses data, this type of project collected for data analysis were ministry projects that were
contracted and constructed under DBB and DB delivery approaches.
A set of recommendations and conclusions will be formulated based on the research
findings.

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 Research Proposal

Reasons for Topic Selection

This topic is selected since the researcher is working in the Ministry of Regional Municipalities &
Water Resources(MRMWR), in the Roads Department. The department deals with the supervision
of Roads in various internal areas of Oman. The Design bid Build is the traditional method most
commonly used in the construction of Road Projects. However, experiences and evidences have
showed that there are setbacks faced by adopting this method as the Designer and Constructor are
separately involved and during the construction phase if there is a change in design or another
aspect which would lead to the change order and ultimately causing delay, whereas the Design-
Build method is the one in which same entity is involved in the Design and Construction services.
Hence, in this report Appraisal shall be carried out with regards to these methods and its impact
on the Client/ Government Authority involved in the Project.

Justification of this Research

This study will address a significant issue valuable of research for two reasons. First, the
slow development and adoption of the Design-Build procurement system by construction industry
of Oman should be resolved. It can be possible by drawing the attention of the industry to the
innate advantages of the Design-Build project delivery option which the global industry of
construction has been utilizing for many years. Secondly, the choice of Design Build provides cost
saving, efficiency, design innovation and fast project completion when applied properly. The
domestic construction industry stakeholders of Oman have had modest experience of procurement
options except for the Design-Bid-Build (DBB). This research will propose the most competent
method to deliver and procure construction road projects in Oman after comparing the impacts of
both methods.

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 Research Proposal

Significance of the Research

The research focuses mainly on how and what ways the Ministry in Oman can adopt different
methods of procurement in order to mitigate extravagance in terms of Money, Manpower, Material
or any other associates that may have a significant impact over the deliverables of Ministry.
Basically, DB and DBB methods of procurement will be appraised in detail inferring to the real-
life experiences/ situations the Engineers (Client) has faced or is facing during the construction of
Road projects in Oman. Moreover, how these methods could be implemented so as to reduce the
negative effect on other parties involved (Consultant, Contractor shall be presented. This study
would be of great importance also indirectly to the citizens as the Roads are built for the citizens
to use. Hence their comfort/convenience is also a huge variable which is considered. Roads involve
land acquisitions, expropriations and a lot of other authorities which whom liaison is to be done to
avoid future delays/ variations so if all the related settlement is done during the Design stage itself,
then the chances/ risks could be reduced to a larger extent. Hence summing up, in this study all the
related factors will be defined and literature review shall be done in brief.

Research Scope/Limitations :
The scope of this research study will be to evaluate several different MRMWR roads projects using the
traditional delivery method (DBB) and also (DB) delivery method in order to determine which method is
the best approach to meet the needs of ministries. Also, the study scope, in general, is the causes that lead
to delay of the construction project in Oman and concentrated to construction of roads and its relative causes
either from the side of client, contractor, and consultant or as external factors affected the progress of work
and completion on schedule time.

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 Research Proposal

Risk Assessment and Ethical Issues

At this study the major risk is the inaccurate of the data gained from the respondent through the
questionnaire and interview because of several reasons such as the questionnaire or interview
survey keep the respondent is feeling unfair of giving security information about their organisation,
not sufficient time to answer or not answer all questionnaire because lack of experience and lack
of organisation documentation and risk to access to the data required to collect from the authority
about roads projects which selected as a cases study. Difficulty to access the project documents
during construction because it will affect the contractor and other parties' reputation image. Lack
of recorded information during the construction stage even if the project documents are accessible.

Source of Data
Libraries online and offline.

Questionnaire and Interview.

Books and Journals.

Previous research projects and case studies.

Reviews and paper presentations on various topics related to this topic.

Online websites.

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 Research Proposal

Plan of work

2017 2018

Activity SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY
PROPOSAL
Selection of Area and
Topic of Research
Selection of Supervisor at
CCE
Preparation of proposal
Proposal Submission
Communicate to GCU
Approval from GCU
ELEMENT 1
Literature review/research
methodology
Element 1 Submission
(Conf paper)
ELEMENT 2

Data Collection/Analysis/
results discussion
Dissertation writing up
Element 2 Dissertation
Submission to CCE
(estimated date)
Element 2 Dissertation
Submission to GCU
(estimated date)

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 Research Proposal

References

Al Ahbabi, M.S.M., 2014. Process protocol for the implementation of integrated project delivery

in the UAE: A client perspective (Doctoral dissertation, University of Salford).

Allen, L.N., 2001. Comparison of Design-Build to Design-Bid Build as a Project Delivery

Method. NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA.

Ling, F.Y.Y. and Kerh, S.H., 2004. Comparing the performance of design-build and design-bid-

build building projects in Singapore. Architectural Science Review, 47(2), pp.163-175.

Ling, F.Y.Y., Chan, S.L., Chong, E. and Ee, L.P., 2004. Predicting performance of design-build

and design-bid-build projects. Journal of construction engineering and

management, 130(1), pp.75-83.

Fernane, J.D., 2011. Comparison of design-build and design-bid-build performance of public

university projects.

Konchar, M. and Sanvido, V., 1998. Comparison of US project delivery systems. Journal of

construction engineering and management, 124(6), pp.435-444.

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